End of the Known World
by Crow-watcher
Summary: The year of 2012 is almost over and economies are horrible. All of a sudden, an modern-day empire crashed and burned into the ground, and slowly... a domino effect starts. FACE Family, FrUk, kinda sorta AmeCan, but not really


**A/N:: **Well. I've been meaning to upload this for like... a week now. I've just been puzzled on what to put it as. For now at least. It's complete. I can see _how _I could continue it, but you people know how I am with finishing and continuing things. Anyways. I blame my English III teacher for this idea! She was talking about 2012 and how it might not mean the literal end of the world, yet the theoretical end of the world, the end of the world as _we _know it. Then it just kinda... went from there.

* * *

Matthew Williams, the representation of the country of Canada, panted heavily as he rushed into the house of his former 'parent', Francis, also known as France, and started to ramble out in a rapid jumble of Canadian-French, forgetting out of worry that his father didn't completely understand his variation of French. But what stopped his babbling was his _other _father's voice.

"Frog, what is the boy babbling on about?" Arthur grumbled out, blond hair messier than normal as he looked at the tall Frenchman, who was trying to to decipher what the Canadian had said.

"I am not sure, rosbif. Oi, hey, mon petit. Please. Speak either English or French. Not your silly Canadian French." Francis said, looking slightly concerned when he noticed that Matthew was paler than normal.

Matthew tried to catch his breath a bit still before saying, an urgent tone in his voice, "Alfred. Hurt. Collapsed. Empire failing. **Dying****.**" He put extra strength on the last word, trying to show that he really meant what he said. The strawberry blond male then hurried over to the television, grabbing the remote as his sense of balance went very visibly off. Falling onto the couch, he turned on the news to World News, where it was talking about the economic collapse in America.

Huffing, the Canadian looked at his adopted parents, saying softly, "H-his economy crashed completely, all the way to the ground, very little chance of it reviving itself, the other night... A-And he didn't tell anybody... N-Now it's crashing in C-Canada too, I think... I r-really don't feel good..." Matthew was getting even paler though his cheeks were starting to become flushed over from a high fever.

Francis hurried over to his son and almost instantly began to fret over him, saying, worry coating his voice, "Oh dear.. Mon petit, you just keep laying down.. Arthur, come over here, cher."

After Arthur had joined Francis's side, the Canadian looked up at his fathers' and said softly, his voice a bit weaker than normal, "He looked worse than he did during the Great Depression..."

Francis sighed and sat down on the couch, pulling his son's head into his lap, gently running his long fingers' through the strawberry blond's hair. He then looked up at his lover and said softly, "Mon cher, you should really go and fetch Alfred before the major part of the 'domino effect' starts... Who knows how many economies are already failing..."

The sandy blond haired Brit then nodded, his green eyes worried and a frown on his face before he headed off to go get the sick American.

* * *

A few hours later, the Brit had returned to the home with a smaller, and still passed out, wheat blond toddler in his arms. Looking down at the toddler, Arthur mumbled out, a frown on his face, "He was this size when I got to his house."

Francis frowned softly before saying, "I put Matthieu to bed shortly after you left..." He was about to say something else when his blue eyes caught the small body in Arthur's arms shift some, smiling faintly when he heard a tiny sniffle.

"P-Papa... dad-dy..? I-It hurts... it r-really does..." Alfred whimpered gently and nuzzled his head into Arthur's chest, mumbling out, "D-Dad-dy, w-where is Mattie at? Where? I need Mattie." He clutched his stomach close to him with one arm, his body still extremely warm from fever as well as him still being in severe pain.

Just then, a faint whimper came from the direction of the room that Francis had put Matthew in, and, almost instantly, the two adults, the whimpering Alfred firmly in tow in Arthur's arms, were hurrying to the bedroom.

Francis, being the first one to the room, stopped dead as his brain took in the sight in front of him. Matthew, much like Alfred, had also regressed back into his toddler form. Looking up, with tears brimming in his eyes, the small strawberry blond sniffled and reached out to be picked up.

The blond Frenchman moved closer and gently picked the child up, saying gently, "Shh, shh, mon petit... Shh, shh..." He then walked over to Arthur and blinked a bit when Matthew squirmed a bit and almost instantly reached out, locking hands with his twin, clutching it tightly. "Alfie..."

Arthur frowned softly, though a small smile also graced his face for a moment when Alfred stopped whimpering, before he motioned silently to Francis with his head. The duo then gently sat the twins down on Matthew's bed. Almost as soon as they were sat down, Matthew and Alfred curled around each other, into a ball of whimpering child. "O-Owie... Alfie... O-Our border..? W-Where did it go..?"

Francis, hearing Matthew's words, glanced over at Arthur worriedly, before saying, as gently as he could, addressing both of the boys, "Mes petits... Which countries are you..?"

Alfred and Matthew, who seemed to be slowly recovering looked at their French father and frowned softly before Alfred said, "What..? What do you mean countries, papa? We're both Northern America. The Republic of North America..." Matthew nodded in agreement to his twin.

Arthur sighed and shook his head a bit at the boys. "No, no, no, lads," He then pointed at Alfred, pausing, "You, Alfred, are America, the United States of America to be exact." The British man then nodded surely before turning a tiny bit and pointing at Matthew, saying, "And you are Canada. Formerly the Dominion of Canada."

They both shook their heads stubbornly, saying loudly, Matthew's voice less apparent in the mixture of the two voices then Alfred's, "No. We are the Republic of North America." Then Alfred nodded, sure with himself and continued, "We have to stay close to each other or else... It hurts really badly if we are apart... Bad things happen too when we are.. Me and Mattie are one."

Francis sighed and looked at his lover before saying, his stress visible in his voice, "Well.. I guess... it kind of appears that they sacrificed their own countries in a desperate attempt to save the others, and in the process ended up combining their countries into one giant one..."

Arthur sighed and looked down at his sons, who looked back at him with wide eyes, one set sky blue, the other a gentle violet, before replying to his lover, "Well.. I guess we at least get another chance to raise the two lads again..."


End file.
